February 19, 2004

The Repeat Button

Jigga-man. Hova. Jay-Z. Shawn Carter is a man of many names, faces, and apparently, clothes. On “Change Clothes” one of the first hit singles from his retirement-announcing release, The Black Album, Jay-Z recounts his journey from obscurity and poverty to fame and fortune. With The Neptunes taking over the mixer, “Change Clothes” presents Jay-Z’s typical, thick production tempered by the minimalist aesthetic popularized by Chad and Pharrell. As a result, the song derives its hook from a momentary absence of sound, a well-engineered syncopated rest between keyboard chords and bass hits. The essence of this song is the rags-to-riches tale so deeply ingrained in the American myth. It is the undying belief in class mobility — that through thrift, hard-work, skill, or just plain dumb luck, we can all strike it rich.

As Jay-Z rhymes from the height of his success, “You know I stay fresh to death, boy from the projects/ And I’m-a take you to the top of the globe, so let’s go,” he reminds us of just how far he’s come. He no longer needs to be a hustler or present the gangsta’ character of someone like 50 Cent. It’s almost as if Jay-Z has harnessed his “inner thug” and replaced it with inner chi: “Gotta keep it peace like a Buddhist

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Riding into the home stretch of its season, the temptation for the men’s polo team to start shifting its focus to the upcoming playoffs builds with each game. Further, with a crucial momentum-building contest at Virginia, one of the Red’s chief rivals for the national championship, next week, the urge to look past this weekend is all the greater. However, Cornell must first deal with the second half of its home-and-away series with the Valley Forge Military Academy, as the Cadets travel to Oxley tomorrow night. “I wouldn’t say that we’re looking past [Valley Forge],” explained polo coach David Eldredge ’81, “but we are definitely looking forward to the Virginia game.” In its two previous meetings with the Red, Valley Forge has been relatively competitive, reaching double digits in scoring each time. “It should be a fun game. They are a talented enough group to move up and down the hall without problems,” said Eldredge about the upcoming opponent. However, he quickly added that, “they don’t have enough talent, though, to really take on our guys.” Last Friday against VFMA, Cornell grabbed an early lead, but the Cadets kept the game respectable before finally falling 19-14. The Red was led by senior Senter Johnson’s 10 goals, while junior Nick Grew and freshman Stan Feldman added six and three scores, respectively. Meanwhile, senior Jeff Markle, a usual starter for the squad, took the game off to rest the right thumb he had injured in the game against Virginia the prior week. However, after having practiced all week, Markle should be ready to resume his typical role in the game tomorrow. With his team completely healthy, Eldredge is looking forward to the VFMA game to see if the Red can put the skills they have been practicing to use. “The game should really be a good chance to [do] what we’ve been practicing,” explained the coach. Many of the improvements the team has been working on are directly related to its game against UVA two weeks ago in which the Red was barely able to eke out a 19-18 overtime win. In that victory, Cornell played much of the game sluggishly below its peak level of performance. “We were a little flat-footed in that game,” explained Eldredge. “We need to step things up at Virginia next week and be closer to the top of our game.” To do this, the Red has been working on many individual skills throughout this week, such as having Johnson step up his pace and increasing Grew’s stroke quickness. Further, Eldredge hopes to see if Grew, whose play improved with each chukker during the UVA game, will be able to start games off at the skill level he played at towards the end of that game. Altogether, though, Eldredge is pleased with how his team is playing and practicing. “I feel that, with the way we’ve been practicing, I am happier with them now than with a few weeks ago,” said the coach. “Also, the win against Virginia was a huge confidence boost. And, if we can beat them when we’re not on top of our games, we can only imagine what we can do when we’re playing our best.” Archived article by Scott Reich

Last weekend was full of wins for the men’s and women’s tennis teams, which beat Penn State and Colgate 5-2 and 7-0, respectively. Heading into this weekend’s matches, the netters hope for similar success, as they build on already strong showings indoors this winter. The men will take on Binghamton, Rutgers, Army and Buffalo in a four-day series while the women are set to face Army and Syracuse beginning tonight. Women “It’s our first dual of the season,” said freshman Kasia Preneta. “We’re really excited.” Cornell’s women have played in several matches already this season, but last weekend’s Valentine’s Day match was the first which counted towards the team’s record. The shutout was a positive way to start the season. “I’m not sure how well we’ve done against Colgate in the past,” recounted Preneta, “but we definitely played well against them this time.” As the team prepares to host Army tomorrow and head north to Syracuse on Sunday, the women know that they will have to play equally dominating tennis to get more wins. The Orangewomen currently stand 2-4 but are on a two-game winning streak. Similarly, Army’s squad also boasts a 2-4 record and will face Syracuse this weekend as well. But the Red isn’t worried. “We’ve been playing really well lately with some really intense practices,” concluded Preneta. “I think we’ll play well this weekend.” Men The men also think they have a good shot at bumping their record to 6-0. “We have a tougher schedule than we’ve ever had, but we’re also playing really well this year, and we have high expectations,” said junior Scott Spencer. After dismantling Penn State, which was ranked higher than Cornell and favored to win the match, the Red has been waiting to get back on the court. The team will have the chance four times over when it hosts four schools at Reis Tennis Center. Topping the list is an Army team which has a 4-1 mark and is coming off a weekend which saw the team defeat Princeton for the first time since 1945. Army also knocked off the University of Central Florida, and gave No. 27 ranked Clemson a scare. “Army will definitely be our toughest match,” continued Spencer, “but I have all expectations that we’ll win.” “We’ve started this season in a great way,” he added, “all we need now is to keep playing consistently to show what we can do.” Archived article by Everett Hullverson